Thicker than Water
by TheGrayson
Summary: What happens when Young Justice gets tangled up in a case where they can't escape? Robin and Kid Flash are suddenly caught in the middle of possibly their most dangerous adventure ever, and worse, they can't get out of it. Supermartian, maybe Spitfire.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey all you Young Justice lovers! I'm taking my first foray into the wonderful world of Willy Wo-I mean, Cahpter!fics. You guys voted, and told me I should write this action-y adventure/drama, so here it is! Enjoy, my little anons!**

Prologue

Robin gasped for air, the metal cuff on his neck flush against his skin. He could hear Wally stirring next to him, but the room was dark and he couldn't move enough to try and slip the blindfold off of him. Wally moved a little again, brushing against his knee, but Robin couldn't tell if he was awake, or if the drugs hadn't worn off yet.

His eyelids drooped, but he forced them back open again, struggling against the fatigue that had built up, due to many sleepless nights. He would stay awake,; he had to.

He knew that if he fell asleep now, he'd never wake up.

Chapter 1

"Eww." Kid Flash moaned, staring at the damp opening of the sewer pipe. He forced down the bile that was threatening to creep up his throat as he stared at the dark brown-ish liquid seeping from the cracks along the wall. "Do we have to go down there?"

"That is where the mission is." Aqualad pointed out. Still, he looked faintly horrified at the filthy water, his skin crawling as he compared this muck to the sparkling blue waters of Atlantis. He took a breath (and immediately regretted it as the stench filled his nose) and stepped into the large opening of the manhole with one foot. A second later he had disappeared, landing with an audible splash in the murky darkness, too far down to see.

"Come on." His voice rang up to the other five teens clustered around the opening. "It is not a large drop."

Shrugging, as if that had answered all of his questions, Superboy dropped into the drain, Miss Martian floating close behind. Artemis gave the sewer a scalding look before plugging her nose and deftly leaping down, leaving only Wally and Robin behind.

"Well," the speedster started, looking meaningfully at his companion, "I guess it's your tur—" Robin suddenly bounded forward and shoved his ginger friend hard in the stomach, sending him toppling over the edge of the drain. His surprised shout echoed as he vanished into the darkness.

Robin stood back and cackled before leaping in after his friend, flipping once in the air before landing silently on his feet, somehow managing not to make a splash. He stifled his giggles at the sight of Kid Flash picking himself up off the ground, slimy muck dripping off his spandex uniform.

He glared and opened his mouth to yell at the Boy Blunder, but was quickly shushed by Aqualad, a finger pressed against his lips in a silent warning.

Moving as quietly as they could, the group moved along the length of the drain, feeling along the walls when it became too dark to see.

"I don't hear anybody up ahead." Superboy said, face scrunched up in both concentration and confusion. "Do you think the tip was wrong?" he asked, voicing the thought that everybody was thinking.

"Well, we could at least look some more. We are already here." Miss Martian said, pointing ahead and shrugging.

"We might as well." Aqualad agreed, and so the team moved forward, farther into the depths of the tunnel system.

"So who's organizing this thing again?" Wally said, tentatively whispering after an extended silence.

The team—minus the speedster—had been relaxing in the mountain when the alert had arrived. Batman's face had been projected onto the large holographic screen in the debriefing room, saying that the local police center had received an anonymous tip detailing a large drug cartel that was supposedly taking place in some underground meeting room.

Not wanting to be seen involved, the League had quickly decided that it would be best for their covert junior team to investigate.

A hasty message had been texted to the speedster, who had quickly changed at his house and was over at the headquarters in a few minutes, after, of course, having stopped to grab several burritos at the nearest Tacopalooza. (The clerk had been shaking when he had handed the change back to the famous sidekick.)

Wally hadn't been briefed with all the details as the team had had to quickly depart, the smugglers apparently only been given a specific time slot in which to carry out their sleazy business.

"We don't know who's behind this yet." Robin chipped in quickly, answering his friend's question as quietly as he could. He would have just sed sign language, but it was still rather dark. Plus, Wally only knew about six gestures, even though Robin had been coaching him for months.

"Ssh." Superboy suddenly said, prompting the entire team to spin around and look at him. "I think I heard something."

"What?" Aqualad whispered, but Superboy didn't need to answer. Seemingly out of nowhere, several armed men started storming out from in front of them, clutching guns and with knives strapped to their arms.

"Ambush!" Artemis yelled, immediately drawing three arrows from her quiver and aiming at the guns of the three nearest thugs. She let them fly and they hit their mark, sticking deep into the guns and knocking them to the ground. Unfortunately, more hired men started running to meet the others. Somebody had called for reinforcements.

CCocking two more arrows, Artemis pressed herself against the wall so Superboy could run forward, barreling into the goons like a charging bull. Artemis tried aiming at them, but her view was blocked by her companion. She bit her lip and lowered her bow, deciding not to risk hitting him. An arrow probably wouldn't have even scratched him, but something told her it wasn't good team etiquette to shoot at a teammate just because he was indestructible.

Nearby, Kid Flash lowered his goggles and was dashing around some gunfire, waiting until he could get close enough to ram into them with his padded shoulders. He dodged a wayward shot and focused on the man who had shot it, a tall, round guy with red eyes and a permanently runny nose. Clearly a junkie, probably cashing in on the alleged deal.

Next to him, Aqualad had pulled out his water bearers and was drawing up some of the swampy muck from the floor, a look of revulsion plastered on his face. Behind them all, Robin and Miss Martian were disabling the rest of the thugs, Miss Martian levitating their guns away while Robin kicked and leaped and spun, knocking out the bad guys almost ruthlessly.

Artemis could only watch, though, when _it_ happened.

Miss Martian was focusing all her attention on two of the men who were shooting at her, concentrating on keeping a thin, invisible shield between them. Behind her a recently flattened thug was slowly getting up, rubbing his head and grabbing his guns from where it had been discarded on the ground next to him. He clicked the safety off and aimed at the oblivious Martian girl.

Artemis yelled and started moving, but she'd never get there in time. Robin, however, heard the panicked scream and turned around, masked eyes widening as he saw the man's finger squeeze down on the trigger.

And then, incredibly, he was there, leaping impossibly high and knocking his teammate safely to the ground, the bullet digging itself into his back as the two toppled to the ground.

All the fighting stopped then, even the attackers freezing as that one shot seemed to ring ten times louder than any of the others. The man who had fired it looked at his own shaking hand, his watery eyes large and scared, right before a yellow blur rushed into him and punched the side of his head. Roaring in anger, Superboy galloped forward and took out five of the men in one fell swoop, nearly shoving them through a wall. With nervous glances at eachother, the few remaining men regrouped and fled, scurrying backwards into the darkness before Superboy could crush them into a fine powder.

Aqualad stared at the unmoving body of the youngest member of the group, shocked. He was even more shocked when he sat up and cursed loudly, rubbing his side.

:You're alive?" Wally shouted, not bothering to keep his voice low. They-whoever 'they' were-already knew they were here.

"Dude, shut up." Robin said, getting to his knees and wincing.

"B-but, I thought, I mean-you..." M'gann trailed off, brow crinkling in confusion.

"Bullet proof vest." Robin replied, reaching around and yanking out the bullet from where it had dug itself into his back. "Man, I've never been so turbed about Batman's paranoia."

"So, you're not hurt?" Wally asked suspiciously, looking at the Boy Wonder with narrowed eyes.

"Probably a bruised rib." Robin said, rubbing his side again. "But fine."

"Suoerboy?" Kaldur asked suddenly, turnind decisively toward the Kyrptonian if he were reading his mind, Superboy turned his head to the side ad listened, a small crease appearing in between his eyes as he concentrated.

"Nope. Nobody's here." he said, raising an eyebrow as he turned back to the group. "It's like everbody just...vanished."

"We should head back to the base, then." Kaldur sighed. He glanced at the rest of the team. "We need to talk to the League."

BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK (sorry, the line thing's broken) BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK

"And then, when we checked again, they were gone. Without a trace." Aqualad finished, looking nervously up at Batman.

"Did you retrieve any evidence?" Batman finally said, deciding that it was probably better to find out who was behind the attack first, rather than go back clueless. Kaldur felt his mouth turn dry as he realized that no, he had not thought about bringing back any evidence. He wiped hs suddenly sweaty palms on his pants.

"Here! I have a bullet." Robin said, and Kaldur nearly went and hugged him. Te small teen rummaged through his utility belt and brought out a small plastic baggie, the tiny silver bullet visible inside.

"Robin was shot at." Wally said, glowering towards his best friend as if he was furious with him for nearly getting killed. He was never in any real danger, but Wally ignored that, preferring instead to direct his anger at the fact that Robin was just lucky he had worn his vest.

"Are you okay?" Batman asked, voice still low, but everybody could tell that something had changed in him.

"Uh, my rib's bothering me."Robin admitted, after being subjected to five smaller glares, let alone the well-practiced, withering one of his mentor. Wihtout a word, Batman glided up to his apprentice, gripping him by the shoulder and sterring him directly to the medical bay. He paused then, remmebering that fiver other teens were waiting for instructions.

"Take tht bullet to Red Tornado. Tell him to run the basic identification tests." He left then, before he could see if hisorders were carried out. It was unnecessary; nobody was ever foolish enough to try and disobey a direct order from the Batman, except for the diminutive bird boy, and even he barely got away with it.

"The scans say this came from a six-chamber, specialized aiming pistol only sold by a select few companies, none of them close to this are." Red Tornado said in his robotic voice, not turning to look at his five charges.

"So, it could belong to anyone?" Wally wailed, flinging his hands up in the air and slouching against one of the walls in the small lab.

"Theoretically, yes." Red Tornado said, still only focused on the screen.

"But to order such a massive shipment wouold mean you would have to have connections to a supplier." Kaldur said thoughtfully, eyes drifting off to the side the way they always did when he was thinking unusually hard about something.

"Where's the nearest warehouse to here?" Artemis asked the android, catching on to Kaldur's train of thought.

"A warehouse in Washington, D.C." Red Tornado said, quickly typing something into the large computer, searching the League database. He pasued then, and finally turned around to look at the teens. "Owned by LexCorp."

"Sit." Bruce said, glancing pointedly at a nearby had frogmarched his apprentice to the medical bay, sternly ignoring the multiple complaints.

Sighing in defeat, the Boy Wonder hoped up onto the table and sat down unusually heavily, expression glum as he slipped out of his tunic and half-raised his arms; he knew this stooped to grab some gaue from a small cabinet before straightening up again, walking up to his protege and scanning his torso.

It wasn't pretty. Black and blue bruising dotted his back and side, a small part on the left side of his body was red and swollen. Lowerding his brow in a scowl, he poked and prodded the sore area.

"Oww." Robin hissed, flinching away from his mentor. "Cut it out."

"Cracked, but minor." Bruce replied, unwinding the gauze and then wrapping it around Robin's torso in a swift manner. He finished in a clean knot and stepped back to observe his work.

"Great." the teen grumbled, hurriedly putting his shirt on and stratching, testing out the confines of his new wrap. It held, and he sighed with relief, the pain having lessened considerably after Batman had wrapped it.

"Be careful." Batman said, realizing as he did so that his ommand would likely be ignored, as it had many times in the past.

"Yeah, okay." Robin said, barely hearing waht his mentor was saying, as usual.

"Go to the lab and get the results." Batman sighed, shaking his head in resignation. Robin popped a comically rigorous salute before bouncing out of the informary, leaving behind a suddenly tired and very exasperated Batman.

BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK BREAK

Lex Luthor glared at the large screen, brows knitted over his eyes. He was sitting in his conference room-granted, nobody was usually there but him, but they called it a conference room just for formality's sake.

Glaring for just a moment longer at the plummeting arrow on the holographic screen, he pressed a little red button on a panel right next to his hand.

"Y-y-yes, Mr. Luthor, uh, sir?" a worried voice issued out of the tiny speaker.

"Why have we lost revenue with the cartel, may I ask?" Luthor hissed, his voice not outright mad, but with a malicious note all the same.

"Um, the operation was...interrupted, sir." the voice replied, the quaver more noticeable now.

"Oh?" Luthor said, raising an eyebrow. He had known, of course, that the deal hadn't been completed when nobody had shown up with his money and _prize_. What he wanted to know was who to punish. "And who, I would like to know, has interrupted my operation?"

"The, uh, Young Justice League, sir."

Luthor tok his finger off the button now, letting the room fall silent as he intertwined his fingers and thought. The little junior Justice League, huh? Making up his mind quickly, he pushed the intercopm button again, eyes gleaming with something sinister and dark.

"Eliminate them."

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><p><strong>Dun dun dun! Ooh, cliffy, which I will be tying up in my next few chapters. Give me any ideas, since I want this to be a semi-long fic, so any chapter ideas will be greatl appreciated. And keep reviewing my other fic, Bird Boy. Please review!<strong>

**-TheGrayson**


	2. Chapter 2

**Ohmigosh, you guys! I just want to super glomp you all to death! Only a couple reviews so far, but over 130 hits? That's great! I mean, it may seem insignificant, but I am feeling pretty high. Just because you guys were this awesome, I think I'll write you a song. **

**Just kidding. But here's the story :3**

**Sorry if there are any mistakes, I'm self-Betaing until I can find a real one. And sorry if this is a bit shorter than the other chapters. I have summer school. (Am I the only one who hates it?)**

**Super Important: This is a re-post. That you to _Just Another Fanfiction Geek _for pointing out my mistake. Like I said, self-Betaing. :P**

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><p>"So, <em>Lex Luthor<em> is behind this?" Robin said incredulously, his voice getting both higher and louder by the end of his sentence. "Whoa! That's some major baggage." he said, flopping down into his chair at the kitchen table and looking at his plate of steaming pasta. M'gann, distressed, had offered to make dinner, apparently so that she could 'cook off' her worries. She had gone through numerous cake mixes, a few frozen pizzas, seven TV dinners and a box of Poptarts before Robin had come back from the med bay. Seeing the massive junk food carcasses littering the floor, he had taken it upon himself (the others had been sitting on the couch and staring blankly at the TV, which wasn't even on) to help her whip up some easy-peasy mac and cheesy, the way Alfred did at home. Not that he'd ever tell anybody he called it that.

They had sat down when Robin remembered why he had been sent back, and so the team, with numerous sighs and muttered trash talk, explained the situation to the little Boy Wonder.

"Yes, he is one of the suspects that we are investigating." Kaldur said, "But it always could be somebody else." he added, hands held out palmside up as if he wanted to somehow placate his team for the distressing news.

"Nah, it's totally Luthor." Wally replied quickly, shooting down Kaldur's suggestion before the others can even look up. "It's _so_ something he would do." he said, picking at his pasta with his fork. It looked delicious and the speedster was hardly one to turn down any food, but he had suddenly lost his appetite. Still, he mentally warned himself of the consequences of what would happen if he didn't eat, so he scooped up a forkful of macaroni and shoved it into his mouth, cheweing alomst lethargically.

"What's so awful about this guy anyway?" M'gann piped up, levitating her fork to her mouth while she clasped her hands on her lap. She looked at her teammates with wide, brown eyes.

"You don't know Lex Luthor?" Wally said incredulously, always quick to fill a silence. His green orbs went comically round as his mouth fell open, displaying his half-chewed cheese for the entire team to see. "He's only Superman's archnemesis and one of the richest men in the world!"

"I've heard of Luthor." Superboy interrupts, his brows furrowed. "At Cadmus. He was...influential."

"No kidding." Robin agreed, nodding. "Luthor's big in any illegal secret company. It's just his thing."

"Well, his _thing_ could be starting some illegal arms revolution." Artemis said glumly, poking at her plate.

"Well, we're not just going to sit around and let him, are we?" Robin grinned, and Wally looked up and slapped him a high five. He looked around at his team and was met with four large grins.

Of course they weren't.

* * *

><p>"No."<p>

"What?" Kid Flash and Robin chorused at the same time, looking at eachother in disbelief for a moment before looking back up at Batman. Wally tilted his head to the side a bit, wondering if he possibly had something maybe stuck in his ear that was horribly affecting his hearing. Still, the stunned looks on his teammates' faces only confirmed that no, Wally's hearing was just fine.

"I said, no." Batman repeated, his gaze cold and calculating as he looked at the six teens lines up in front of him. He had been at the cave-a rare occurrence-when they had found him in the briefing room, and had immediately asked him if they could go on a mission to investigate the attack. Apparently they didn't like his response.

"What do you mean 'no'?" Robin said, voice getting dangerously loud as he glared at his mentor, hands gravitating to his hips in a stance of pure defiance. He looked so comical standing there-legs apart, hands on his hips, face red-that Bruce almost laughed, except for the fact that he was Batman and Batman didn't laugh, so he settled for a cool glare instead.

"If Luthor really is behind this, then the League will handle it. We don't want you getting involved in such a dangerous mission. You still need a lot of training." Batman explained, wondering again how he had been sent to the cave to tell the kids. If only Superman had done it.

"But Batman, it is _our_ mission." Kaldur argued, his tone respectful as usual, but Batman managed to catch a hint of anger in it.

"And by extension, all of your missions are the League missions. We retain the right to withdraw you from any mission. If you remember, you all agreed to do this on League terms." Batman said, reciting the speech by memory.

"But Speedy got a mission with Luthor!" Robin whined. He conveniently forgot to mention that Speedy had been _helping_ Luthor, because he really didn't believe that would help their case right then. "How come he gets to?"

"Roy was acting without the permission or knowledge of the League; you will not to the same." Batman said, emphasizing the 'not' with a heated glare at all six members of Young Justice. They all flinched, except for Robin, who was either too used to his Batglares or too upset to care.

"But-!"

"This discussion," Batman said, "is over."

* * *

><p>"I can't believe this!" Wally said, running his fingers through his hair. The team had sullenly returned to the living room and he had immediately started pacing agitatedly, so fast that he was reduced to a yellow blur. "They're treating us like babies!"<p>

"Don't they think we can handle this?" M'gann said, sounding more dissapointed than anything. She knew that they were nowhere near as qualified as the real League, but she had hoped that they ahd been seen doing well enough to be trusted with maybe just a few of the bigger missions. So far, the League was still treating them like a back-up service, some people to call when they were just too busy or the situation was just too unimportant.

"Please," Artemis snorted indignantly, flipping her hair over her shoulder and pulling her eyebrows down in a scowl. "They don't think we can handle anything."

"We're not going to take this, are we?" Conner asked, looking at his teammates in confusion.

"That's the spirit!" Robin crowed, leaping over and patting Superboy on the bicep. "Let's just listen to Supey and go. Nobody will know." he said, and for a moment it sounded so convicning that the entire team was debating getting up and following the bird boy, ready to act on his every whim. His bright smile and almost-coy expression didn't help either.

"What?" Aqualad finally said, breaking the silence. "We cannot disobey the League, Robin."

"Why not? That's how we made this team!" Robin exclaimed, raising his eyebrows behind his mask and trying to be convincing. "I'm sure the League will understand." he added, lying through his teeth. Oh please. Anybody who knew Batman knew that he was _not_ the understanding type.

"Well, I'm with Robin." Artemis said decisively, standing up and going over to the Boy Wonder's side. She laid a hand on his shoulder and the pair faced the rest of the team.

"Me too!" Wally said only a split second later, over by the two's sides in a flash of yellow and red. He pressed the lightning symbol on his chest and watched as his bright outfit slowly melted from yellow to black and gray. He slipped his goggles on and looked at the rest of the team. M'gann let out a cry of joy and clapped her hands, floating over to the others where she manipulated her clothes into a dark bodysuit with a red 'X' on it; her typical stealth outfit. Superboy looked at the four and then let his gaze drift back to Kaldur, who was clearly torn between his loyalty to the League and his commitment to the team.

"It's simple," Superboy finally said, getting up and joining his four other teammates. Robin and Kid Flash grinned and pounded fists as the Kryptonian clone joined their forces. "Get on board, or get out of the way."

* * *

><p>Several white, holographic screens popped up around the room, their faces obscured by a hazy white mist as they all faced a lone man standing in the middle of the darkened circular room. He trembled, remembering the last time he had been in that very spot, how terrifying yet wonderful it had been. He had thought it a complete failure, that one task they had assigned him to, but they had been surprisingly understanding. He just couldn't dissapoint them now or-he didn't want to think about the consequences.<p>

"Well?" a low, hoarse voice asked, and the man turned toward the white silhouette of a short, balding man.

"He-he is not happy." the man replied quietly, his gaze lowering just the smallest bit so he wouldn't have to look at the daunting screens organized in a circle around him.

"We would think not." a high, reedy voice answered, and the man immediately turned to face a long, thin whitened image of some sort of stick creature with long horns poking out of the top of his head. The man shook a little, but managed to keep his voice steady as he replied:

"It's Young Justice again. He wants them taken out."

"They are causing too many problems." the first speaker again replied, and James Desmond turned to look at him, eagerly waiting for orders. "It's time they see the Light."

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><p><strong>Oooohh! A cliffy, except this time I'm pretty sure most of you know where I'm going, at least in the short term. The best is still yet to come. Please review, and be sure to check out my other fic, "Bird Boy" too!<strong>

**-TheGrayson**

_**"Lasers! They have lasers!"-**_**Dick Grayson, from Batman: Under the Red Hood**


	3. Chapter 3

**My god, I'm sorry. I was on a three week Internet-less vacation (I secretly think my parents were punishing me) and when we got back our wifi was out, and I know that that's no excuse but believe me, I will be grounding myself for this. I will update any chance I can, like a rabid walrus.**

**Can walruses even get rabies?**

**Robin: Yes.**

**OMG DISCLAIMER: I do not own Young Justice. Although if I did, I would totally make myself the romantic interest for Roy. Why? _He looks good in a suit._**

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><p>"Are we really going to do this?" Kaldur said for the fourteenth time that night. Wally and Robin had been very gung-ho about sneaking out and trying to find Lex Luthor, but the dark-skinned Atlantean still had his doubts. It was...unnerving, to sneak out and purposefully disobey the League's orders. Batman had been very specific in his instructions, and Kaldur really didn't want to see what would happen if Batman found out- and Batman would ultimately find out- that they had gone after one of the League's most hated enemies without backup.<p>

It was a scary thought.

"Of course, Kaldur!" Robin hissed, keeping his voice low in case Batman had bugged the room, which he most likely had. "We found this. It's _our_ mission. The League can't treat us like babies."

"Yeah, and remember how great the last time turned out? We stopped Cadmus, and found Supey!" Wally said, and the clone threw him a disgruntled look, even though Kaldur knew him well enough to know that he wasn't angry, not really, only vaguely annoyed.

"But the League-" Kaldur said, only to be interrupted by a determined Robin.

"Will only find out after we finish this." he said, and his voice sounded so confident and soothing that Kaldur wanted to believe him.

"Well, I'm in." M'gann chirped, floating a couple inches in the air and grinning at her teammates. Superboy nodded gruffly, and M'gann's grin widened.

"Might as well, Kaldur." Artemis shoved the gilled boy lightly in the shoulder, pronouncing his name with her usual thick city accent. "You know we can do this."

Kaldur sighed. The entire team was ganging up on him? Unfair. Completely unfair. Didn't anybody want to side with him? Still...the _entire_ team was sure about this, and as leader, it was his duty to lead them. What kind of leader would he be if he didn't support his team?

"Okay." He gave up. "Let us do this."

* * *

><p>"This was a horrible night to pick a mission." Kid Flash complained, drawing his arms closer to his body as he walked, trying to conserve what precious little body heat he could under the sheets of rain. The downpour had started only a few minutes after they had left the building, and he was convinced it was a sign. He hated rain. Maybe the gods of the universe were trying to tell them something?<p>

"Man up, KF." Robin said, snorting as he mocked his friend. He didn't seem to mind the rain at all, even though it made his cape droop and matted his hair to his scalp and make him look even smaller than usual. Still, the little bird was soaking it up (literally and figuratively) as they team trudged through the rain, whirling and twisting and laughing as the silvery raindroips bounced off his face.

"It is not so bad." Kaldur agreed, and Wally glared at him.

"Dude, you're used to living underwater. You don't count."

"Well, I hate rain." Artemis grouched, desperately trying to wring some water out of her sopping ponytail. It was pointless; the rain didn't let up. "Maybe we should head back?"

"If we head back now, the League won't let us go out again." Miss Martian pointed out, and Artemis glared at her half-heartedly before sighing and giving up on her hair, letting it stick awkwardly to the back of her neck.

"I'm getting wet." Superboy stated in an emotionless voice, and the team looked strangely at him. "This is a new shirt." he defended, looking at his team.

His shirt looked the same as all his other shirts.

"Hey, we're almost at the warehouse, that's good." Robin said. The team had taken the bioship for most of the distance to Washington DC, but they had ditched it a few miles back in case it was found. Megan had left it in camoflauge mode, but still, you could never be too careful. Not when Lex Luthor was involved.

"I think I see it." Superboy agreed, and the rest of the team strained to make out the dim silhouette through the pouring rain. "To the left, a few hundred feet."

"Finally." Wally chattered, now clutching his biceps and shaking. "No rain."

The warehouse was run down and battered, looking entirely like a structure Luthor would rather had bulldozed than held a secret trafficking ring in. Which led Kaldur to a surprising thought.

"What if this is not owned by Luthor?" he said, but his teammates didn't seam to notice. But, Kaldur silently protested, there were more people on their list of suspects and this area was too far out of Luthor's comfort zone. Apparently nobody cared.

"Alright, now what?" Artemis said, wringing out her ponytail again and staring at satisfaction at the drops that fell to the floor. M'gann changed into her stealth suit and Kid Flash pressed the logo on his chest, smiling slightly as the black and gray washed over his suit.

"We should split up, search the warehouse for the guns. At least then we would know if Luthor really is behind this." Kaldur said, looking around as he pressed the small Aqua symbol on his belt and let the gray steal over his red shirt. "Miss Martian, link us up. It is better to err on the side of caution."

The small ringing cleared as soon as M'gann solidified the link, and Kaldur braced himself for the usual babble and complaints of his team members, but strangely everybody was silent, completely focused on the task in front of them. Kaldur totally understood. It was their first real big mission, and made their other missions (protecting a scientist, guarding robot parts, searching for Kent Nelson) seem like childs' play.

_Robin, go with Kid Flash, take the East. Artemis, stay with M'gann and scope out the South. Superboy and I will hit the West wing. _Kaldur ordered, and he could feel the team all nodding in unison. Time to stop this.

* * *

><p><em>Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, Rob! <em>Kid Flash yelled mentally, and his best friend glared at him.

_We're two feet away, Kidiot. Stop yelling._ he mumbled, and chagrin washed out from Wally in waves. Robin rolled his eyes and focused in on the hallway in front of them, his keen gaze scanning the ground for booby traps or trip wires or something. There was a sudden tapping on his shoulder and Robin whirled around to see Wally frantically pointing at a small room in the corner.

"It's a lab." Kid Flash whispered, keeping his voice tactfully low. "It has a fume hood meant for dangerous fumes." he added, and Robin nodded with him. On some unspoken signal they both moved into the room, sticking close together and peering at the lab. A single dusty bulb highlighted a small area in the middle of the space, and the only noticeable furniture was a small table upon which sat a small green beaker was filled with some strange thick liquid, occasionally bubbling.

"Do you know what it is?" Robin whispered, glancing quickly at his scientific prodigy of a friend. Kid Flash glanced at it again, and then slowly shook his head.

"It-it just looks like jello."

"Idiots." The voice was alien, unfamiliar, and the boys spun around, their eyes wide as they took in the familiar man. A flash of bright light blinded them, and then they sunk to the ground, unconscious.

Ra's al Ghul smiled as he stepped into the light.

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><p><em>What happened to Robin and Kid Flash? <em>Superboy asked suddenly, startling the four remaining members of the team.

_M'gann, search for their consciousnesses. _Kaldur asked, his mind racing as he realized that the two had been silent for an unusually long time. He could feel the Martian's concetration as she cast out her psychic powers and focused her mind.

_Kaldur, they're-_ She faltered, and the team waited with bated breath. _They're not here anymore._

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><p><strong>Dun dun dun! Okay, cliffy, but this story is fianlly taking off! And yes, I'm super duper sorry, and I will update now that this story has a plotline somewhere. I eat feedback for breakfast!<strong>

**-TheGrayson**


	4. Chapter 4

**HOLY HAIRDO, BATMAN! She lives!**

**Yeah, yeah, I know I haven't updated this in like...a century. But I was sitting in my dad's car this morning, and a beautiful new plot bunny just appeared in my head.**

**I thank the Fanfiction gods.**

**So now that this thing has a definite plot (you'll like it, I don't think anybody else has done this before) it's actually going to be updated. **

**DISCLAIMER: Nu.**

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><p>Robin woke up shivering. Groggily pulling himself from the recesses of the darkness in his head, he mentally made note to tell Alfred to increase the temperature in his room, because last he remembered, his bed was <em>definitely<em> not this cold.

Funny, though. His bed suddenly felt a lot harder, stiffer. His bed had never been concrete before...and he had _never_ been chained to it.

Struggling to pry his eyes open, Dick looked around. _Oh, crud._

A wave of vertigo and nausea hit him as he woke up, and he squeezed his eyes closed in an effort to keep his lunch- or maybe it was dinner- down. He wasn't in his bedroom. He wasn't at Wally's house. He wasn't even at the mountain. Instead of all these lovely, homey options, he was shackled to a dirty wall in some dingy cellar.

And then he looked to his right.

There was Wally, curled inside some giant glass cube, fast asleep (Robin could make out his mouth opening and closing, meaning he was snoring) as he seemed unaware of his surroundings. Dick had to choke down a snicker. Even in their situation, seeing Wally trapped in a glass cage was laughably idiotic.

Robin looked down, noticing with a twinge of dismay that somebody had stolen his utility belt, gloves, and boots, getting rid of any escape options. So much for picking the locks. Robin examined his restraints more closely, noticing the shiny metal cuffs snug around his wrists and ankles, keeping him on a three-foot radius from the wall. Dick shifted slightly, testing out the amount of slack. Good, he had enough room to reach Wally's cube.

Raising a fist, Robin banged on the glass as hard as he could, aiming to shatter. No suck luck; it was obviously Plexiglass or some other unbreakable solid.

Kid Flash yelped as he jolted awake, and he coughed suddenly, looking queasy as he fought off the remnants o the drug. When he righted himself, his eyes went comically wide as he noticied his living quarters. He turned to Robin.

"Dude, where are we?" he cried, his voice sounding thick and distorted through the glass.

"I wish I knew." Robin murmured, looking around the room. Okay, there was a door in the corner, stairs leading up from it, some kind of furnace on the opposite wall, and a small table over on the far right.

Not much to work with.

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><p>"What. Happened." Batman was not pleased.<p>

He had already been in a bad mood when the team had arrived, but after hearing that they'd arrived without Robin and Kid Flash, his already sour demeanor had turned murderous.

There was a silent game of "Rock, Paper, Scissors" as the four remaining members desperately tried to avoid telling Batman. Eventually, Kaldur stepped up with a sigh.

"Batman, sir, Robin and Kid Flash were assigned to the same wing of the warehouse we were investigating, and when we tried to regroup, we discovered that they were not in the building anymore." he admitted, feeling more and more ashamed of himself as he went on. This was _his _fault. _He _was the supposed leader of this team, and he hadn't been able to keep track of their two youngest members.

Batman eyes narrowed dangerously behind his cowl. "I remember telling you to stay put."

"I know." Kaldur said. "We felt the need to follow up on our leads."

"You four will remain in the mountain until we say otherwise." Batman hissed. As low as his voice was, it was heard perfectly by everybody in the room. "All your missions will be placed on hiatus until we relocate Robin and Kid Flash. You are dismissed."

"Hey, wait!" Superboy protested, an angry look settling on his face as he stepped forward. "You can't just suspend us! It wasn't _our _faults they got lost!"

"I suggest you be quiet, unless you want that hiatus to become permanent." Batman growled, taking a step forward to stare down the Kryptonian clone. "_Dismissed._"

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><p>"This is all my fault." Kaldur mumbled as soon as the team dropped down into the cushy chairs in the mess room. "If I had been paying closer attention, none of this would have ever happened."<p>

"No, Kaldur, I'm the telepath here. I should have been keeping better track of them." M'gann replied morosely, staring down at her lap.

"We don't even knoe if they're missing." Superboy scoffed. "They might just be playing hooky."

"No. Kid Flash may be an idiot, but he's not stupid enough to run off and panic everybody." Artemis quickly shot down his idea. "Plus, there's no way Robin would ever just disappear without telling Batman. He practically worships him. It's obvious what happened." she added coolly, turning her head away from her teammates.

"Oh, so you know what happened?" Superboy remarked sarcastically, sharing a onfused glance with Kaldur.

"It's plain and simple." Artemis started, looking at her friends with sorrow in her eyes. "They're there one minute and gone the next, without a trace, in a suspicious warehouse?"

She paused, staring down the other members of the team.

"They were captured."

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><p>"Ow." Wally muttered, rubbing his shoulder petulantly. He had been ramming it against the side of the glass cube for hours now, and even with all the extra padding, it still felt like Superboy had punched it.<p>

"Uh, KF?" Robin started, a smile on his face even though his tone and mask were serious. "Now would be a great time to learn how to vibrate your molecules and go through the wall. I don't think it's gonna break any time soon."

"I can't." Wally moaned, sitting down and leaning back, covering his face with his hands. He stayed like that for a moment before turning and blinking owlishly at his best friend. "Anyway, you're the Boy Wonder. Haven't you figured out a way to get us out yet? Birdarang? Gas pellet that melts glass? Magic metal-cutting lasers?"

"They took my belt. And my gloves." Robin murmured, tugging half-heartedly on the chains connected to his wrists. "So I can't get out of these chains. At least you get a box. These hurt." he complained, raising a slim wrist to show Wally. The speedster flinched at the sight of blood streaked along his arm. Those chains must be tighter than he thought.

"So, now what?"

"Well, I guess we should just wait here until the team or our mentors find us. Batman can find me easily. I have a tracking device located on...my belt." Robin finished, mentally cursing as he realized that the tracker would be of no use now.

"This sucks." Wally grouched, pounding on the side of the glass wall. Robin flinched as loud, booming _clangs_ resounded next to his ear.

"Keep it down, would you?" Robin scowled, sighing as he turned to face Wally. "We're stuck."

"Not for too long." A new voice filtered into the basement, and the two captive sidekicks immediately whirled around and searched for the source of the noise.

"Luthor." Robin growled as the bald, thin man walked down the stairs.

The Metropolis supervillain grinned. "Hello, boys."

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><p><strong>Gaaaasp! First Ra's-y-kins, now Lexxie-poo? What will I throw at you next? Review to find out.<strong>

**-TheGrayson :3**


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